Given all the genius of hindsight, I , if president of the Confederacy, would have bitten my lips, held my breath, promoted Patrick Ronayne Cleburne over the heads of lesser lights and named him commander of the Army of Tennessee.

Further, I would have given him the authority to reorganize the AoT in any manner he saw fit including promote or remove or transfer personnel as he needed. In a reversal of my previous policies as president, I would follow Cleburne's advice to arm, train and free slaves to fill out the diminishing ranks of the army.

I would have called a meeting of the Confederate high command, including Cleburne and planned strategy for the next phase of the war in both theaters. The session would have to be a no BS, honest assessment of what is doable and what is impractical but desirable and what is just plain pie-in-the-sky and never going to happen no matter how badly some political high fliers want it.